


The Bank Manager

by xwaterloobridge



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: F/M, Fake AH Crew, Reader-Insert, Slow ish build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2018-08-23 16:06:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8333881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xwaterloobridge/pseuds/xwaterloobridge
Summary: Owning a bank in Los Santos isn't easy. A successful business plan occasionally requires creativity.





	1. The Deal

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a bit of a slow build. Not super slow, however, because ain't nobody got time for that.
> 
> First chapter is a bit short, just getting stuff out there.

You were pretty sure that this must be the weirdest meeting Geoff Ramsey had ever taken. 

It wasn’t even a terribly formal meeting. You were sitting at a picnic table in the middle of the park, facing each other down. There was a police officer and police horse nearby, no recording devices, and neither of you were armed. 

You had, after several months of research and too much money on tech guys, been able to request a meeting with the infamous leader of the Fake AH Crew. You had an unusual business proposal for him. 

The thing was that banks in Los Santos just weren’t very safe. Your grandfather had owned a big one in the city for most of his adult life, but his not so early death had left you in charge. The bank’s biggest problem, you’d always been taught, wasn’t people defaulting on loans- it was the city’s gangs.

You had closed for almost all business in order to remodel the facility itself, but you knew that the state of the art security system was nothing more than a minor annoyance to potential criminals. It was time to implement a far more radical measure- Hence the meeting between the new bank president and the criminal mastermind.

“Cut to the chase, kid. Why are we here?”

“Ah, well,” you stuttered, pulling out a folder.

“Jesus,” Geoff said as his eyes went wide at your enormous purse. “You brought paperwork?!?”

“Look,” you said, pulling yourself together. “It comes down to this. You- and the other gangs- are my number one biggest expense-”

“I’m not going to stop robbing you just because you ask-“

“- so I want to hire you.”

The two of you stopped talking and stared at each other for a long time. So long, in fact, that it had become extremely awkward and you were starting to feel uncomfortable. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“I brought our early analysis! And here, look at this chart…” Geoff looked as though what he really wanted to be looking at was a bottle of whiskey. “Like I said, you are my biggest expense. If you’d just look at the reports for the last five years on losses-“

“-I won’t-“

“- it’s pretty clear what we need to do,” you finished.

“Drink? I'm not big on paperwork.”

“Hire you. Please?”

Geoff blinked. You smiled. You’d win in the end. He might not have been sold on the idea, but you had the spreadsheets on your side.

~

“Hey, fuckers, we have a new gig!” 

Their penthouse was even nicer than you’d expected. You’d be jealous but… the fact of the matter was that sometimes you fell asleep in your office. “Home” was not a place you spent a lot of time. Work was where you spent most of your time, and the other time was usually spent in a coffee shop, drive thru, or forcing yourself to take a ten minute walk around the park to actually get some sunshine. You could probably afford a place like this… but you wouldn’t really know. Right now you didn’t have time to check real estate… or your bank account. It had been a long few months. 

“Geoff, what?” asked a red bearded man. “We usually talk about this.” 

A flash of purple sidled up to you. “Hey baby,” said the young man in what you supposed was a smooth manner. “I’m Ray.”

“You asshole,” sputtered an angry redhead. “We’re fucking criminals, we don’t politely introduce ourselves.”

“Guys!” Geoff was certainly loud enough for this crew. “This is easy money. She,” he gestured his thumb at you, “owns the Los Santos Central Trust. We’re working for her for awhile.”

“Geoff,” came a tentative British voice. “I know we’ve only been doing this a few years, but I don’t think working FOR banks is exactly how this goes.” 

You couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. “This is going to be so much fun.”

~

The discussions about the future jobs of the FAHC with your bank went from semi-serious to straight out drinking and laughing. Three shots in, Gavin and Michael somehow got you to thinking that they’d really just GET your spreadsheets. They… well, they didn’t. Since then, it had just been an all-out contest to see who could doodle the best dick. [“Best” was being defined as you went along.] 

All of a sudden, all the men looked guiltily to one corner. You didn’t follow at first, but turned around still giggling. 

“What is all this… frivolity?!?” growled out the man you only knew as the Vagabond, gesturing at you. You actually resented that a bit. You were, in fact, dressed very sensibly and wielding [dick covered] spreadsheets. 

You looked at him with a frown and started to wag your finger at him. If you weren’t four shots of fireball in, you’d have fainted dead away… but as it was, you were high off the adrenaline of having hired, then gotten drunk with, the rest of his crew.

“Hi there,” you said with a sugary sweet smile. “I’m your new boss.”

~

You were actually surprised he hadn’t killed you.

Later, safely cocooned on the couch between Michael and Gavin, you were amused by the man’s frustration. 

“Look, Ryan,” said Geoff in a somewhat drunken manner. “It just makes sense. I mean…. Charts.”

Ryan glared. He still hadn’t removed the mask.

Geoff sighed and, reluctantly, sobered up a bit. You gave him what you hoped was a supportive glance. He took a calming breath. “She made a compelling argument that it would be more cost effective to hire us to monitor her security. It’ll decrease our need to actually rob her and thus our danger, and increase her overall profitability. We’ll get about as much as we’d get each year from robbing her anyway- we just won’t let anyone else do it.” Having spat that out, he took a long drink as the crew stared at him. 

“So,” you piped up, drawing the Vagabond’s attention to yourself. “You don’t have to actually do much. Just make sure I’m not robbed!”

He looked unimpressed. “And why, Geoff, are we doing this?”

Geoff shrugged. “I’m lazy,” was his honest answer. Michael and Gavin nodded enthusiastically next to you. Ryan sighed. You just kept smiling. Honestly, this was the best you could have expected. 

“Oh, and Ryan? Gonna need you to go and case out the bank tomorrow.”

The Vagabond just sighed. 

~ 

You awoke the next morning on a couch in the penthouse, having decided that it was too late to go anywhere else. Geoff, coffee in hand, caught you before you left to tell you that Ryan, with Gavin tagging along, would be around later to get the lay of the land. 

“Mask off, right?” you asked. You didn’t particularly want it to be common knowledge to the law- abiding citizens of Los Santos that you were working with a known gang. The mask would give it away AND frighten your employees. 

Geoff sipped his coffee, as though trying to gather strength. “Yeah, I’ll tell him. Don’t expect him to be happy about it, though. Try not to make a big deal of it.”

Later in the day, as you supervised some final work on the bank’s lobby, your daytime guard came in to tell you that two men wanted to see you. When you walked together to the door, he seemed surprised that they were gone. You were less surprised. You followed your sneaking suspicion back to your office, where Gavin was idly typing on your computer and Ryan, his back to you, fiddling with the small safe in the wall behind your desk. You found yourself surprised that he had soft looking blond hair.

“You really ought to replace that guy,” he said, not turning around. “It was beyond easy to convince him to leave his post. Anyone could be gaining access.”

“I know,” you sighed. Evan really wasn’t very good at his job. “I don’t know that I could replace him, though. Security guards in this city don’t live long.” 

“Fair enough,” said the Vagabond, finally turning around. With Geoff’s words in mind, you made a considerable effort to not stare at Ryan’s face…. But it was difficult. He happened to be extremely handsome. You could see why he might prefer a mask- his face itself didn’t look particularly menacing. His were steely blue, though, and they reminded you of the mercenary he really could be. You were glad that he was [however reluctantly] on your side. 

He seemed to let your eyes linger on him for a moment before shifting away. “Now,” he said crisply. “Here are the other things I’ve noticed….”

You pulled out a chair. This was bound to be another long day.


	2. The Back and Forth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, in my opinion, a boring chapter- though hopefully one infused with some humor. The next chapter will be far more exciting, I promise, and there's going to be a quicker update- like, later today. I'm not just putting up a boring chapter without giving you something a little more exciting!

You’d never expected the most powerful gang in Los Santos to be idiots, exactly…. But you also hadn’t been expecting Ryan’s nimble eyes to have taken in enough to form such a long list of problems so quickly. Along with issues with personnel, he saw clear problems with the camera system, security alarm placement, and older door to the vault. You could grumpily admit that you should have fixed the last one already. It was actually still all dented up from the last robbery, before you had taken over. Ryan didn’t just point this out- he was downright salty.

In fact, the comprehensive list that Ryan had drawn up was a bit frightening to you, more frightening even than the man himself. You needed to crunch the numbers, but you were vaguely aware that making your bank safe might literally cost more than it was worth. Hard work wasn’t the issue- you’d been doing that since day one. You also now had the Fake AH Crew to prioritize what was important from the criminal perspective. No, the problem was that you simply didn’t have the capital to do many of the necessary repairs and replacements. Even if you could convince the crew to forgo the fee for the first year, the money just wouldn’t be there. 

You sat through your meeting with Gavin and Ryan, stoically attempting to hide your worries, and brushed off Gavin’s attempt to lure you back to the penthouse again. [In fairness, he could have offered better than cheap boxed wine.] You spent the evening in your office, working long after close, before leaving out the back and going home. You should have gotten some food, but you just didn’t have it in you tonight. Last night had looked so promising, and had even been fun- but the truth had set in just as much as the hangover. You’d bitten off more than you could chew. 

You didn’t stop thinking about the bank once you were home. You didn’t even change out of your business clothes for a few hours. Instead, you spent that time pacing. While at work, you spent the whole time planning for the future of the bank, especially the remodeling you were doing. You didn’t let the thought of letting it go enter your mind as a possibility. Your loyalty toward the bank and your employees demanded that you attempted to keep things running as long as possible. Now, however, at home…. It was time to think about letting the bank go. 

You’d never find a buyer for the bank, of course, even remodeled- if you were to let go, it would all be shut down and everyone unemployed. That thought pained you. Of course, that’s still what would happen if you held on but failed and went under. In the latter, however, you worried about being able to pay the pensions and severance packages they’d need. Maybe if you just put some of the changes in place, they’d hold off? Maybe you could get a few big investors? Maybe some members of the Fake AH Crew wanted second jobs as low-paid security guards in a dangerous position? Okay, okay, you knew that last one was out of the question. That’s not what you’d agreed to hire them for and that’s not really what they did.

To your chagrin, you realized that hiring the crew might have been a mistake. The fee was substantial, and it looked like you’d hired them just to tell you something you should have seen before. The self-recriminations bounced back and forth in your head until the early hours of the morning. You finally threw off your work clothes, grabbed the nearest t-shirt, and collapsed onto your bed, like usual. Unfortunately, some unreachable part of you still wasn’t ready to sleep. You laid down in your bed and, unusually for you, cried. You cried and cried until you were out of breath and aching like you’d just done an ab workout. You cried until your eyes hurt. You cried until you went to sleep.

~

Very few places in Los Santos were safe at six in the morning. You imagined that the safest places were the safe houses of the gangs, the strip clubs owned by the gangs, or the morgue, preferably already dead. You weren’t quite sure where your apartment stood on the scale of safe to dead- you had rented it solely for location, location, location.

And okay, the location wasn’t actually very good, but you had your reasons. What it had going for it was that there was a coffeeshop between there and the bank, and a grocery store and several fast food joints nearby. It also had a broken elevator, leaking ceiling, and a broken living room window, but whatever- decorating wasn’t really your thing anyway. 

You followed routine, dumping your old clothes on the floor and grabbing new ones to pull on after your shower. In this kind of mood, you couldn’t be bothered to do anything with your hair, so you pulled it into a harsh bun. You hadn’t bothered to eat last night and you didn’t really feel like eating now, so the obvious solution was to order extra whipped cream on your drink at the coffee place. You arrived at the bank early, as usual, since you liked to personally supervise everything that went on. Forget banker’s hours- that was for employees, not the owner! 70-80 hour weeks had been your normal since your grandfather had died. 

The morning was normal. Stressful, but that fell under the category of “normal”. You munched on a little vending machine junk for lunch, while taking a second to yourself to read the local headlines. Nothing involving banks or the FAHC. Good. Geoff had suggested a late afternoon briefing. Unusual for most meetings, you weren’t prepared. You didn’t have a single chart nor a lone spreadsheet ready. You DID consider printing out the ones you had used last time- experience with the crew demonstrated that they weren’t likely to pay much attention to your worksheets- but you just couldn’t bring yourself to fake paperwork, of all things. SOME things had to be sacred. In the end, you printed out some information for the various costs of the proposed changes, but even as you highlighted pertinent information, you knew it was a half-hearted effort. 

The FAHC penthouse was literally across the tracks from your apartment, a good fifteen minutes from the bank. You arrived promptly, and the door was opened by an enthusiastic Gavin. Michael slunk behind him, which seemed to be fairly normal, and you could see Ray gaming intensely. However, Geoff appeared at a door to the side, attired in full tuxedo, and barked out “She’s here! Everyone, briefing room!” 

Everyone, yourself included, stood up a little straighter and filed dutifully to the briefing room. You were duly impressed- this was much nicer than a public park. They even had a coffee machine, which was helpful given that you were on about your sixth cup that day. This was nicer than your own briefing room at the bank. Way nicer.  
Ryan- actually, with the mask back on, you thought that perhaps you’d stick with calling him the Vagabond, the Mad King- had already been in his seat at the table. This wasn’t really surprising, as it was easy to see that his work ethic was an entirely different matter from that of Gavin or Ray. 

You dully agreed with Geoff that it would be best to first talk about the problems that the men had spotted. Ryan rattled through the list you’d memorized, adding a comment here and there, and Gavin added some technological insight. Your head was beginning to hurt a bit by the time they were finished.

“And,” said the Vagabond darkly, “I found yet another weakness later.”

You sat up a bit straighter. What was this? And why did it sound so ominous?

“YOU,” he said, staring straight at you, “YOU are the biggest security risk the bank has.”

You were aware that crying and lack of food and sleep had made you unusually pale for this meeting. Upon hearing this, however, you could immediately feel your face flush scarlet. 

“Excuse me?” 

This, of course, was supposed to sound cool and professional. It came out, however, as “Exxxx-CUSE ME?!?”

The men all looked slightly startled at this outburst. You couldn’t believe it, you gave this your ALL…

“Ryan, perhaps you’d, uh, explain?” This came from Jack, who had been taking notes on the computer and seemed mostly perturbed that this wasn’t something he could likely type out in a memo. Ah, a man after your own heart. But this was no time for that. 

You were standing, hands on hips, glaring at Stupid Dumb Mask Dude. Hands that you identified as Gavin’s patted your back gently, as if asking you to calm down. 

Stupid Dumb Mask Dude didn’t seem bothered like the rest of them. 

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to stay as late as you do at work?”

This was an interesting angle.

“Or, for that matter, to come in so early. You don’t hold the keys to the vaults alone, which is good, but you have keys to the building and you work ridiculous hours. You’re a huge vulnerability.”

You were calming down. This actually made sense, he had a point. Your workaholic tendencies weren’t perhaps the best thing when it meant being alone in the building… which happened to be a bank… in Los Santos. Okay. This was reasonable.

“And your sleep habits can’t possibly be helping.”

WHAT.

You guessed that you were probably 20 inches from the Vagabond’s masked face before Michael got to you. Quick reflexes, that one. You had never been this unprofessional in your life, but the clear implication that he was following you and watching you mad you mad as heck.

“And you should think about how much coffee you drink.”

This time, you actually got the mask partially off. He grunted and pulled it the rest of the way off. “I’m just doing my job, you know,” he said in a disgruntled tone.

They decided on a short break at that point.

~

You decided it would be a bad idea to ask for coffee, so you requested bourbon instead. Michael had poured your glass and was about to hand it to you when Jack walked in and cleared his throat. Michael immediately downed the liquid himself, with a mildly uncomfortable look on his face, and handed you a bottle of water. Jack only nodded and settled into a chair. 

“So,” he began. “I know we weren’t hired to stalk you, but Ryan is… thorough. Very thorough.”

You weren’t sure if you had the energy to glare at him in the way you were sure that he deserved. Meanwhile, the Lads [they actually had shirts that said that] simply nodded thoughtfully.

“While he’s not wrong- LET ME FINISH- while he’s not WRONG, we certainly can’t force you to follow those suggestions, and we wouldn’t even try. For one thing, we’re big fans of doing your own thing. For another, we’re also big fans of not doing things. So.

“He’s not going to apologize. Which is fair! He’s right on a few things… and while you might see him as crossing a boundary, we ARE really thorough…. He’d do this on any enemy you hired us for, too. The rest of us can assure you that we don’t go this far, and say we’re sorry, but to be truthful it’ll be most productive for all of us if you can just ignore that last little bit of the meeting.”

You sighed, rubbed your temples, and bowed your head slightly. “Let me talk to him.”

~

The attitude that came off of the Mad King was nothing short of defiant. He’d clearly been given a talking-to by Geoff, and he was just as stubborn as you’d thought. His mask was still off and he was exactly as attractive as you’d remembered. You sat down with a sigh, really wanting something else in your bloodstream- alcohol of caffeine, you weren’t choosy. 

“Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot-“

“We did?” This seemed to mystify him. Up to this point you figured he just hadn’t liked the job he’d been given and wanted to be as hard on you as possible. Other than THAT general feeling, you couldn’t actually imagine the Vagabond getting off on the RIGHT foot with someone… In fairness, you could easily picture RYAN being on good terms with anyone he chose. Perhaps you’d ask him to put the mask back on.

“Um. I thought so? I assumed that’s why you were being so… harsh.”

Ryan fixed you with his [baby blue] steely gaze. “I’m being hard on you because that’s my job,” he said flatly. “Plus, the fact that you’re our client means that your well-being is in our best interest. My best interest.” He stilled, and then did something you never would have expected: he shot you a grin. “Also, I get bored at night.”

The surprise flooded through you only a second before the suspicion did. “So you admit that the stalking was taking things a bit far?” 

“I wouldn’t call it stalking, per se,” he said slowly. 

“I might.”

“Think of it this way,” he says to you. “We’re just the same: we both do our research.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, there should very quickly be an update. This isn't my favorite chapter, but it's unfortunately pretty necessary for character development and setting other things up. While I liked the first chapter, I found that I made the mistake of not looking forward far enough, and left myself in a bad place for continuing. In my mind right now, this ends up being around 7 chapters of approximately the same length as these or a little longer.


	3. The Defense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the more exciting new chapter. There's another to follow quickly!

You and the Vagabond worked fairly well together after that, but he wasn’t your favorite. You suspected by now that the rest of the gang was helping nudge your partnership along. He was the only one you ever had trouble with. 

You thought of yourself as a pretty normal person, working hard and trying to get along with people, not particularly unethical, but you were starting to wonder about how well you got along with five of the city’s top six wanted men. Was this normal? The temper flares you experienced with the Mad King felt more like a typical reaction to the criminal element. 

Meanwhile, Gavin seemed to have some sort of fixation with becoming your friend. He clearly liked to drink, and so did you, but you limited yourself to weekends. Gavin, regardless, begged you at least every other day to go out for “bevs”. You laughed at this every time he said it, but the dude was catchy. You found yourself saying some of his ridiculous words and phrases. You were ashamed to admit it, but a non-descript bird noise had escaped you earlier. Gavin’s simple joy in life helped you to relax and have fun.

Michael seemed to mostly tag along with Gavin, which made sense since Gavin himself was a form of entertainment himself. The whole crew seemed to have a LOT of free time. Your relationship with him was on very different footing from that with his friend. Unless you were hanging with them in their penthouse, Michael was always on the job. He was subtle, but you saw it sometimes. His gaze over your lobby might be casual, but his eyes and mind worked fast and you could see him analyzing everything. Inside his own home was the only time he seemed to relax. 

You didn’t see Ray much, but you always joked around at the penthouse. He liked to hit on you, primarily because his co-workers found it annoying. You grinned at the thought of ever actually following through with a joke to even kiss him- he’d probably rather take his chances with jumping out the window. That wouldn’t stop you from joking, either- annoying the Fake Achievement Hunter Crew was truly a cause you could get behind. 

Jack seemed to be the business end of the crew, and you appreciated him for that. Unlike the Lads, he seemed to always be DOING something. Some of what he was doing WAS gaming, but he appeared to like keeping his hands and mind busy. You liked that he would at least READ your paperwork and give a few polite comments. He was a clear head to whom you could speak about business matters. That, the clear head, helped you more than you could easily express. 

Geoff was Geoff. If you didn’t know him, there wasn’t a lot more to say than that. While Jack was the clear head, Geoff was the weird charisma and true leadership. Geoff was the rallying point. Geoff was the guy who got to make cool, inspirational speeches before a tough heist. [This was a bit of assumption on your part, but you were sure that this happened.] Geoff was usually drinking but rarely truly drunk, and he seemed to view you as, well, a bit of a pest, if you had to be honest. Then again, that’s how he seemed to view most of the men in his own crew, so perhaps that was just the way he was. 

And then Ryan. He never seemed to lose his temper- you could hear anger or annoyance edge into his voice, but he remained infuriatingly calm. He was courteous to you while keeping up that insufferable habit of saying things that you didn’t want to hear, but were probably true. You tried to keep your temper under control, but he just got under your skin…. And the worst part was how maddeningly good he was at his job. You two had better moments, though, that was true. He seemed to legitimately be trying to be friendlier to you and less harsh, less…. Mad King-ish. There were three of him in your head. You wanted nothing to do with the Mad King, who was the terrifying figure they had stories about on the news. The Vagabond was still frightening, but you could work with him, and you were getting accustomed to him…. It was just a matter of being accustomed to a certain chilliness from him. Ryan was naturally the most likeable of them, naturally, given that HE was never in a mask. You could see Ryan smile, and you could see him relax some at home. Unfortunately, you also saw just plain Ryan the least. 

Even outside what their job called for, you found the crew making your life go a little better. For the sake of security, your hours had been slashed at work. You did work some hours out of the penthouse, but nothing compared to before. You hadn’t intended to set up shop there, but the point had been driven home to you that you and your apartment weren’t going to be much of a barrier against someone determined to rob you. 

Gavin and Michael showed up frequently at the bank around lunch, food in tow. You suspected that this was part of a secret mission to continue changing your habits for the better, but you weren’t one to say no to free food, especially when it arrived at your office at lunch. And really especially since Gavin would start to moan about “not being able to do anything right” if you tried to decline. [You just didn’t like olives, which was hardly a crime worth punishing with Gavin’s puppy dog eyes.] If you were working at the penthouse, you were inevitably roped into lunch, dinner, or at least a late breakfast with the crew.

You still stressed too much and didn’t sleep as much as you should, but you were no longer relying on caffeine to keep you alive. Well, most of the time you weren’t. You were a sucker for those energy drinks that the Lads loved, but Jack had gotten you started on drinking hot tea more than coffee. 

Someone had apparently hit on an important realization- you weren’t going to be forced to change things, but friendship could lead you in the right way. Well, maybe friendliness instead of friendship. They were still the crew you had HIRED. You never forgot that if you stopped paying, you’d probably never see them again. That was a little hard to think of. It had been a long time since you’d had the time and freedom for friends, and this was the closest you’d gotten. You forgot all the scary criminal things they did, but you tried not to let yourself forget that they were being paid to know you and protect your interests. 

You hadn’t confided your money worries even to Jack, who would understand your issues, but you were a little more hopeful. You’d finished some of the remodels you’d already begun, and were consequently able to handle more business. You were proud of what you’d done, but knew you still had a way to go. 

On one of the rare days that Ryan and Ray showed up [with sandwiches just for you and Ray, oddly] you were halfheartedly pretending to work when Ray’s phone went off. Ryan was doing his thing and lurking around the outside to look for weaknesses, leaving you and Ray to eat.

“Yup,” Ray answered, and you could see his face immediately strain. You could hear the voices on the other end, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Uh, okay. Wait, give me a second.” He clicked the phone onto speaker.

“Are you both there?” This was Geoff’s voice, sounding stressed. He continued when you’d answered in the affirmative. “Look, guys, we’re mobilizing, but you should get out of there.”

“What?” you asked, face draining. “We’ve got guards and the security system up! We can just go into lockdown!”

“Look, kid, you know we haven’t been able to install the security system Gavin wants in there. Yours,” he paused, “Yours is vulnerable. Gavin just started to pick up some chatter that you’re an immediate target and that they can get into the system. We don’t know anything for sure, the kid is still going through logs, but better safe than sorry.”

Ray spoke up, going as serious as you had ever seen him. “Ryan’s scouting outside,” he said to Geoff. “He usually doesn’t answer his phone when he does that, but he’ll be able to see someone coming.”

“Jack’s trying to reach him. We weren’t ready for this, so we’re about to leave,” Geoff said. “It’ll be ten minutes at least. We don’t want to attract too much attention.”

“But,” you said, not understanding why all your nice new upgrades could leave you this vulnerable and being somewhat lost for words, “What about locks? Guards?”

You could almost hear Geoff’s pause hanging in the air. When he spoke, it was reluctantly and not to you. “Ray,” he said. “Especially separated from Ryan, you two gotta go. That place can’t stand a real assault, and I’m not losing lives over this. Gavin’s saying that it’s coming SOON, so get yourselves evacuated and he’ll trip the alarm from here. Hopefully that’ll be enough time. If not… we’re too far out and you’re not a close-quarters guy. We don’t know who’s coming or how many. Get yourselves out, now.”  
This was the end of the call and a grim determination came onto Ray’s face. “Let’s go,” he said, throwing on his backpack and pulling you into the hallway.

“But my employees….” You tugged yourself toward the lobby, ready to warn them.

“Listen. We… we don’t have time.” This was said while slowly but effectively dragging you the other way. “And we can’t trip the alarm yet, or anyone who gets into your system will be able to see that it’s been done, and we’ll become targets outside the building. We don’t want that. I’m better from far away. Even if I wasn’t, and Ryan was with us, we probably couldn’t hold off enough to protect all your employees, much less the customers. We don’t know what to expect and the crew is too far out right now.”

Tears were streaming down your face as you reluctantly went with Ray. You didn’t want to die, but some of your employees had been with your grandfather for decades. You weren’t a huge business, so you knew each one. You knew their spouses and if they had kids, grandkids. The security guards were more transient, but they were still your people and you felt the heavy weight of responsibility for them in your heart. You did start moving faster, though- the sooner you were out, the sooner they’d allow the alarm to be tripped. You knew that the Los Santos police couldn’t be trusted to protect them, but you hoped that perhaps it’d at least be enough of a distraction that whoever was robbing you would decide it was more than it was worth. Thankfully, Jack had come in and taught your tellers the best ways to not get shot, if a situation arose. It was unfortunately true that they would get shot by the police just as easily as by robbers. 

Ray had started off mostly dragging you, and he was still the leading force for your movement. Your eyes were teary and you weren’t sure what to do, but you could follow. He saw you bringing out the keys to lock the back door, as per usual, but he stopped you. “No time,” he explained, hand tugging your wrist. “Plus, if there’s an easy escape, it might help de-escalate the situation.” This seemed like some good sense, which was exactly what you needed. You kept moving.

“Here, take this,” Ray said while shoving a now ringing phone into your hand. You answered to hear Geoff’s voice on the phone. 

“We pulled the alarm and it’s locking down, but I can’t get in touch with Ryan,” he said a bit frantically, trying not to be conspicuous. You were about to answer when, instead, the glass front of your store broke and a small explosion occurred. You, next to Ray, whimpered and sunk against him slightly. All your work, your employees, and most importantly your grandfather’s legacy… it was all going to be gone. The explosion hadn’t been big, but it meant that everything you feared was coming true. Men in camouflage poured in the new “door” and you realized how right the crew had been, about so many things.

When you snapped back into it, you were just starting to catch Geoff’s frantic questions. Ray grabbed the phone, said “We’re heading east away from the bank, to safe house 3. 

We can’t really talk right now.” He snapped the phone closed and looked at you for a moment. 

It was a mistake. Some goon must have noticed the two of you standing there and was shooting. Ray’s eyes went wide as a bullet entered his left shoulder. This was your tipping point, this was when you came out of your blur to act. Ray was already taking his gun out with his other hand, so you saved him the effort having to drag you by dragging HIM into the nearest alley. You knew that this went through because there was a fast food place right on the other end. You hauled ass for the both of you.

“Are you going to be okay?” you whispered to Ray, stumbling.

“Think so. That one isn’t going to follow us, I don’t think, but we need to get safe and they can stitch me up.”

You knew that both you and Ray were cursing the fact that Ryan, Gavin, and Michael were the only ones with the neighborhood memorized. You knew it okay, but you traveled by car. Ray was more of a distance, from a roof person than a street level one. 

You’d emerged from the alley, ditched your high heels, and were about to cross the street when a car came careening up and nearly hit you. The force of Ray tugging you into another alley knocked you to your knees into the dirt, but you recovered to follow him, just to find a dead end. Another man you didn’t recognize hopped out of the driver’s seat, heavily armed. You were cornered. Ray brandished his gun, but was hit again by someone from a distance, causing him to slump over. He wasn’t unconscious yet, but he wasn’t in shape to pick up the gun he’d dropped when shot. There was blood. A lot… a lot of blood, and some of it got on you when you went to your knees to help him 

The man in the alley with you grinned wildly and pressed the talk button on his walkie talkie. “Well, lookie what I have here!” he crowed. “You gotta come down here, see what we have. Yeah, I’ll try to keep ‘em alive for a few minutes. No promises!” 

He kept stalking toward you and Ray, but he mostly ignored your presence. Instead, kicking you away, he grabbed Ray by the collar and lifted him. “Pink gun? I bet I know whose crew YOU belong to, kid.” He chuckled the entire time, pistol whipping Ray in the face. You were about five feet away, but he wasn’t focused on you. He held Ray at his eye level and looked at him closely. “Never thought Brownman would be such a kid. I’m half tempted to keep you around to get you to talk about your buddies.” This was accompanied by a jab to his ribs.

You had been keeping quiet on the ground, but you were moving now, only a couple feet away. You were scooting as best you could, trying to keep hidden the gun that ray had dropped. You just needed to get out of his line of sight… you were there. You were completely inexperienced with these things, but you knew Ray had been ready to fire, and you knew to expect a kick. Your eyes were blurred with tears still, but you could see him. You just needed to make sure that Ray didn’t get shot by accident. Your hand gripped the gun behind your back, and the second he threw Ray back onto the ground you took it out and fired. 

You weren’t quick at bringing it out or pulling the trigger, of course, and you didn’t hit him as squarely as you wanted. You shot him, in fact, in the groin. He fell to the ground, groaning, having dropped his gun. He kicked you again and you could feel a terrible pounding in your head, but you didn’t stop moving. You crawled forward as quickly as you could, but realized he was reaching for his gun. 

You felt like you’d been through plenty this day, but this was the moment that froze into your mind. Seconds seemed to be minutes and you would never forget what was happening. You didn’t have time to think it through until later. Tears had fallen from your eyes and you could see a little more clearly. At least, you could see clearly enough that this next bullet went where you wanted: straight into his fucking skull. 

This was what crystalized in your mind: the first shot had been to save someone’s life, and you didn’t even know if you could hit him. Now, as time stretched and slowed for you, you had made a decision. It wasn’t a decision you could go back from, and it wasn’t something you’d pictured yourself ever doing. But you made the choice, you had pulled the trigger, and you had aimed straight at his head. You had crossed a line that you didn’t think existed inside of you.   
But you did it. The man fell still, dead before he touched his gun. You immediately grabbed his gun and hurried to Ray. You hoped to heaven that both guns still had ammo in them, because you definitely didn’t know how to reload. 

Ray had lost consciousness. You knew this was bad, so very bad, even with one man of theirs down. You considered. You could guard Ray and maybe move him, but you definitely couldn’t get him into the car and still keep an eye out for other shooters. And honestly, if you could just be applying pressure instead of moving, it might buy Ray time. For now, you applied pressure with your left hand while your gun hand searched for a phone. You hadn’t grabbed your phone, and where was Ray’s? As your fingers closed around it, you heard a shout. 

“Hey, what the hell…?” It was another man in camouflage, matching the others. Your pulse rose again, and you dropped the phone in order to once again raise your gun. This one carried a sniper rifle. Of course, he’d been talking to your dead guy. He wasn’t close enough for you to feel like you’d hit him, but you were aiming as he threw his rifle to the side and started to draw his sidearm. You were sure you were staring your doom in the face, and prepared to at least go down fighting. You figured Ray would appreciate the effort. 

Right before you were going to pull the trigger, a weird thing happened. Blood started to pour out of his neck, right before his head fell off. You didn’t fire the weapon, but your mouth fell open. Sheathing a machete was Ryan Haywood himself, in all his glory as the Mad King.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually like writing action scenes, so this was fun! Honestly, it got a little long, so I have more for another chapter. I'm on a roll! 
> 
> If you need something else to read, I'm probably most proud of my Soulmate AU series, so check it out!


	4. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rather like this one.

You had always assumed that to see the Mad King in action was to fear him, to have him haunt your dreams for eternity. Now, here, having seen him smoothly remove a head with a weirdly long knife to carry, you knew that if he appeared in your dreams, it would be as a protector. He kicked the body aside, and a wave of relief flushed through you. 

His eyes flicked around but always returned to you. He appeared to you as an avenging angel, eyes gleaming bright and angry. The Vagabond strolled up to you, practically throwing aside the other man’s body, and you couldn’t be more thankful. Your heart felt lighter knowing that Ryan, the Vagabond, the Mad King, was here.

“Are you okay?” he hissed quietly.

“Little bruised but fine. Maybe bleeding, not sure where. Ray, Ray’s hurt. He got shot twice, and he’s not waking up and I haven’t been able to apply much pressure….”

Ryan silently lifted Ray and put him the back of the assailant’s vehicle. You followed and got in when he motioned for you to put pressure on the wounds. He got into the driver’s seat and all of a second you were moving, moving fast. You were suddenly aware of cop cars, speeding past you going the opposite way. You were silent while Ryan got on the phone and spoke urgently. To be honest, you were zoning in and out like crazy and couldn’t focus for long. You had no idea how long the drive took, but you could tell that Ray was still hanging on. By a thread, perhaps, but it was enough. 

Your bank wasn’t in the fancier area of town that the penthouse was. This made it much faster to travel to the outskirts of town, to an industrial area, to the front of a warehouse. A bunch of people swarmed the car- a medic with a stretcher, a shorter man with green in his hair, a redheaded woman, among others- and they rushed to remove Ray from the car. You leaned back against your door, saw the Vagabond step out and issue a few orders, and watched most of the crowd head inside with the stretcher holding Ray. Ryan and the redhead walked to the door you were leaning on and helped you out. 

“How are you?” Ryan asked in his quiet way. “This is Lindsay. She’s part of our network, she works out of here- it’s one of our safe houses. It’s the best place to treat Ray and lie low right now.”

You sent a weak smile Lindsay’s way and leaned on the arm that Ryan had offered you. 

“The other guys you know are still a couple minutes out,” he said gruffly. “Lindsay’ll help you settle in.’

Lindsay steered you to her room to pick out some clothes, verified that nothing seemed broken or too cut, and sent you to the shower in the neighboring extra room. When you exited, exhausted, she helped you dry your hair and put bandages on your bruises. She talked to you the whole time, sometimes just random chat, but it kept you out of your head. 

You were just sitting on the bed when the door burst open, plunging a dagger into your aching head. Gavin’s frantic eyes met yours and he barreled toward you. Lindsay managed to slow him, but Gavin was determined to throw himself at you. He wrapped his arms around you and pressed his tear soaked face into you, whimpering. “Ray’s still being seen to,” he sniffed. “Thank god you and Ryan are okay. He’s already gone off, but at least we can be together until we hear more.” 

You longed to ask where Ryan had “gone off” to, where the other men were, if there was an update on Ray or your bank, if there was anything else…. Your mind kept wandering and wondering. Gavin accepted your silence as natural, and you wound your arms around him. 

You had no idea how long you sat like that, but you began to fall asleep. Gavin kept sniffling, but eventually pulled back and held you at arm’s length. You were still nodding off, so you didn’t quite catch it when Gavin started talking, though his tone made it sound like he was asking a question. You tried to ask him to clarify, but realized that you couldn’t make it come out as more than a mumble. You couldn’t pull yourself out of the haze, either. In fact, falling onto the bed and sleeping sounded like just the best thing right now. 

As your consciousness faded out like a movie, you could hear Gavin panicking and feel him tightening his grip on you. Finally, you heard him raise his voice loud enough to pierce even your haze- and you were pretty sure he was yelling for help. 

~

You were awake long before you talked to the people who filed in and out of your room. There was always someone with you, as far as you could tell. You probably weren’t even passed out that long, but you woke up… you took a few hours before you left them realize you were awake. You weren’t ready yet.

You couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that you killed a man. He’d just been breathing, thinking, talking- and you ended it. You knew that you and Ray would probably be dead if you hadn’t, but it still ate at you that you had pulled the trigger and ended a life. What had you come to?

The other thing that haunted you was the loss of the bank. It wasn’t the lost building, business, or money that got to you- it was somehow the institution, the safety of the place that your grandfather had made and preserved and passed to you. You had let him down. You were afraid to sit up and ask about your employees. 

You could hear Gavin and Lindsay sitting in the room with you. You were facing away, but you could hear them talking. Someone was sniffling, probably crying- Gavin, from the sound of it. Lindsay spoke softly and reassuringly, but neither you nor Gavin seemed to be comforted. You suddenly realized that you were shaking with quiet sobs, and that Lindsay had gone silent. You heard her get up, open the door, and begin to whisper urgently. You rolled over to face Gavin, who looked pretty much as bad as you felt. He sent you a weak smile and scooted closer. 

“You okay?” he whispered.

“As yet to be determined, I guess.”

“Caleb said...” he started, before being interrupted. 

“Hey there. Can we sit you up?” asked the man with kind eyes. He was dressed in scrubs, clearly the medical professional of the group. You wiggled your sore limbs a bit and sat up. “I’m Caleb, I’ve been treating you while you’ve been here. I just want to look you over and see how you are, just a quick exam.”

You looked around the room. Lindsay had come back, and Michael was right behind Gavin. Geoff supervised from the doorway, while Jack was hanging out with the green haired dude near the door to your bathroom. Most of them were grinning wildly. “Um,” you said. “Is there, you know, some way we could make this examination a private party?”

Caleb scowled and looked around at everyone else. “I TOLD them, but they’re hard to argue with. I try not to argue with people with guns.” He said this pointedly, and everyone started to file out of the room. Lindsay lingered for a bit. “Do you mind if Lindsay stays? Might be a little more comfortable.” You nodded your assent, and she shut the door behind everyone else. “Okay, now tell me: how are you feeling?”

“Physically or mentally?”

“Uh, first one and then the other.”

“Well,” you started. “My head hurts and I’m tired, but it’s not as bad as before. I’m sore all over, but especially around my stomach. That’s about it for that side of things.”

Caleb was nodding, Lindsay standing in the background trying to not intrude. “You have a concussion. We didn’t know your head had been hit; you shouldn’t have been allowed to pass out so soon. We were worried about you for a little bit, I’m glad to see you up. Your abdomen is bruised but you didn’t break any ribs. Other than that it’s a few cuts and bruises, but nothing else concerning.” 

He ran a few tests on you- your name, the date, the year, stuff like that to make sure that you were all there mentally. He asked how you were doing emotionally. You paused.

“I mean… I’m not doing GREAT, but I kind of also don’t want to talk about it. Is that okay?” 

Caleb smiled. “Of course. I’m not a therapist, just making sure that you don’t immediately need anything. You probably SHOULD talk about it with someone, whether it’s a friend or a therapist, but you definitely don’t have to talk to me about it. I can recommend some good therapists who are, uh… discreet about this kind of thing.” 

“Thank you. I appreciate it. Can’t really see myself opening up to a stranger like that, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

You strongly suspected that someone had been listening in, because a harsh rap came through right before Michael started yelling. “Yo! You guys done yet?”  
You winced- the pain in your head wasn’t gone yet, nor was the pain in your heart. 

“Hey,” you said softly, mostly to Lindsay. “I really just… all of them… don’t want to. Can you…”

Caleb interrupted her answer with a helpful answer of his own. “Actually, that’s a good call. I want you to stay quiet for the next several days. I don’t really know what the crew’s plan is yet, but Geoff probably isn’t going to move you at least until they’re ready to move Ray.”

You brightened. “Ray? Ray’s okay?”

Lindsay burst in with a warm smile. “He’s going to be fine. None of the shots hit anything really important. The biggest worry was blood loss, but we keep plenty of that here for everyone. He did get a couple broken bones, his rib and nose, but he’s a fast healer. He’s already making jokes about needing medical marijuana. He’ll need to take it slow too, but he’s probably more used to being hurt than you are.” 

You smiled. “That’s probably true.”

Caleb had packed up the few things that he’d brought in and was preparing to leave. Lindsay took charge. “So, someone is always going to be sitting with you, but that doesn’t mean you have to talk to them. You can totally fake sleep… or just say that you don’t want to talk. Someone is just going to need to be here to make sure you don’t show any weird symptoms of brain damage. And we can put in here anyone you’re most comfortable with. Okay?”

You would have preferred to be alone, but you shrugged at her. You kind of understood. As surprising as the Fake Achievement Hunter Crew could be, you really doubted they had anything in this warehouse to do brain scans and check for damage. 

“Maybe… Lindsay, will you stay? Then I can see one or two at a time and you can kick people out if I’m tired or something.”

“Will do,” Lindsay said cheerily.

You took a moment to go to the bathroom, splash your face with water, and compose yourself. You weren’t done grieving for the things you’d done and what you’d lost, but you knew that you wouldn’t be able to put off seeing people. 

“Okay,” you sighed. “We can start now.”

~

You were grateful to Lindsay. She was clearly bursting with vibrancy, but with you she was soft and gentle and quiet. If you began to look tired or annoyed, she’d hustle your visitor out. You couldn’t ask for better backup. 

Jack was the first one in. You very quickly realized that this was so he could continue to fill you in. He was quick and succinct, and it was like ripping a band aid off. Some part of you already knew. The bank wasn’t technically a total loss- the building was salvageable, but you and Jack both knew that there wasn’t the money to restore it. They hadn’t gotten into the vault, so your customer’s belongings were safe, but they’d taken a lot of money. Your guard Evan had tried to be brave and your teller Frank had had a heart attack, and neither of them made it out. Six others who worked for you, however, made it out without even a stop at the hospital. You supposed that, given the odds at most banks, this was lucky. You didn’t feel comforted. 

Gavin and Michael came in next. Gavin came in slowly and awkwardly but ended up virtually in the bed to cuddle you. Always one for the physical affection, Gavin was. You were glad the two had come together, because you could hardly imagine being alone with Michael. There just wasn’t a lot that you two needed to say. Gavin was a convenient buffer for the two of you, but you knew that you and Michael were good. You just didn’t have to say much. They didn’t ask too many questions, just repeated that they were so glad you and Ray were okay. Michael passed on Ray’s well wishes- “he WANTED to facetime or for you to visit, but Lindsay said no…”- and awkwardly told you that you were looking well. Gavin unabashedly kissed your forehead as they left. 

You needed a couple hours to sleep after that. You loved them, but it took a lot out of you. Plus, in addition to your grief, your brain kept reminding you that you’d paid the FAHC for the year…. But you’d never be able to pay that again. There was a countdown clock going. You cried yourself to sleep again that night. 

The next day, you actually DID facetime Ray. You couldn’t pretend he looked good, but it was enough for you that he was alive and talking. Caleb said they’d grab a wheelchair so you could go next door to see him soon. Caleb still worried for you. It didn’t stop Gavin from showing up around midnight and crawling into your big bed. He woke you first, muttered something about not sleeping, and slept next to you all night. When you woke up, Michael was sleeping in the recliner in your room. None of you mentioned how you kept waking up and crying during the night. 

The boss showed the day after that, after lunch. You weren’t able to eat a lot, which worried Caleb, but absolutely nothing was really appealing to you. Soup and tea were the fallbacks now, and you’d eat some bread with your soup sometimes, but you couldn’t stomach much else. 

It was just Lindsay in the room when you woke up from your afternoon nap, but Geoff strolled in after a few minutes. He made a head motion, and Lindsay left. It was one of those things that was both surprising and not surprising at the same time. 

“How ya feeling, kiddo?” Geoff asked, making himself comfortable in Lindsay’s chair. 

“Um,” you said, squirming under his gaze. “Alright, I suppose, given the circumstances.”

Geoff nodded, like this was obvious. “You did well out there.”

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

“Head still hurting?”

That earned him a nod and a wince. 

“You’ll feel better soon, hopefully. Either way, you have a place as long as you need it.”

“Thanks.”

There was a strangely comfortable silence. Geoff looked you up and down, assessing your condition.

“Hmph. I’m not convinced that Caleb isn’t being too soft with you.”

You didn’t think this through. You just narrowed your eyes at him. “Excuse me.”

“Whoa, whoa,” he said while throwing up his hands. “Don’t you give me that look. I’m just saying, it might not hurt you to get out of this room more, talk a little more. I’m not dragging you out.”

You pursed your lips together and nodded. 

He sighed. “Let’s forget it.” This was much more your style, so you rewarded him with a smile. “I’m not exactly the best at this emotions, gratitude thing,” Geoff said with a sigh, getting up from the chair. “But I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m glad Ray is okay, and I’m proud of you.”

This perplexed you. “What?”

“Your first shot was right in the nuts, kid. Couldn’t have trained you better myself.”

~

You were still awake and slightly confused when Lindsay re-entered the room. She chatted to you for a few moments before settling in with a magazine. 

“Wait, Lindsay?”

“Yeah?”

“When’s Ryan coming? I’ve seen everyone else.”

She wrinkled her face a little. “Ryan… Ryan isn’t really around right now.” 

“What does THAT mean?”

“Ryan does his own thing sometimes. He’s doing that now. We don’t really know what that means… and we definitely don’t ask.”

This didn’t seem like an acceptable response to you, but she began dimming the lights in the perfect way for a nap for you, and you decided that you just didn’t have the energy.

~

You had to admit that you didn’t know exactly how long it was before Ryan showed up, but you thought it was nearly a week. You spent a lot of time talking to Michael, Gavin, and Jack, facetiming Ray, sleeping, and crying. You tried to be as subtle as you could about the crying, but people knew. They tried to prod you, but you just weren’t there yet. There was a lot of talking and not much said. This was your routine.

In typical Vagabond fashion, you woke up to find him lurking in the dark. You two were alone together. It took you a moment to realize he was there, but when you whispered his name he pulled off his mask.

“Hey,” you whispered to him.

“Hey,” he whispered back. 

“Are you mad at me?”

“What? Why? No, of course not.” 

“I just thought that maybe, since I was slow getting out and we weren’t in contact…”

“No, that’s more on me and- why are you always convinced that you’ve done something wrong?”

“Dunno. Probably I’m just crazy.”

He laughed and you smiled a little. “Probably.”

“Where have you been?”

He was serious now. “Doing things. Please don’t ask.”

“Will you ever tell me? Nobody but Jack really tells me anything.”

He sighed heavily. “Well, they tell me. They also tell me that you hardly eat, sleep too much, and cry at night.”

There wasn’t much you could say to this. “Well, in fairness, I cry during the day too.”

He gave you a faint chuckle. “I’m not going to tell you what I was doing, but maybe one day. Any other questions, smart alec?”

“Yes, actually.” You were fully awake now and wiggling up to a sitting position. “Why is everyone still being so nice to me? Even you are going easy on me.”

He blinked with surprise. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“I hired you guys as the owner of a bank. That doesn’t exist anymore. I definitely can’t pay you guys anymore.”

Ryan seemed downright surprised. He blinked a few times and finally let out a chuckle without any real humor behind it. "Oh. I don’t think you get it.” You glared, but he was probably right. “Well... if nothing else, I know you paid a lot in advance. In addition, do you think that nobody got attached to you while we were working together? We try to help out our friends, you know.”

You nodded, this made sense. Ryan sat up further, and through the darkness you could see his bright eyes catching yours. You started to slump back, satisfied for now with that answer. 

He wasn’t done talking. “There’s more, and I can’t believe it hasn’t crossed your mind.” You scowled at him, but he kept going, his voice harder than before. 

“You did an amazing thing,” he said quietly. “You never shot a gun before and yet you got into defense mode. Not just that. When I got there, you were putting yourself between Ray and any danger. You have to know, you have to realize that it was incredibly brave. That’s the biggest thing. It’s not just that everyone got attached. You did something big there.”

You squeezed your eyes shut but a tear snuck past. You hoped that, in the dark, Ryan wouldn’t spot it. 

“But,” you rasped through your tears. “I killed someone. That isn’t what I was supposed to do.” 

He sighed. “Most of the people you see now have participated in the death of several people. What WERE you supposed to do? Die? Let Ray die? You did exactly right.”

“It’s HARD.” 

“I know.”

You sat in silence a little longer. Finally, Ryan softened his voice. 

“You have to understand that what you did is a big deal to me. To all of us, actually… but it’s easier to earn their trust than mine.

“You put yourself in the position to take a bullet for Ray. You hired us to protect you- that didn’t include anything about having to protect us. But you did.

“You’re not someone who wants to kill… but you did. Because you had to. I get that. I appreciate that. We all do. It’s not a small thing.”

You could hardly speak at this point. “So that’s why I’m here?”

“Sort of. You’re here because you’ve proven your loyalty to the crew about as well as anyone could. You might not be in the crew or working with us, but you have a place with us. We couldn’t be obviously protecting the bank… but you, you’re under our protection. We owe you. We owe you… and we respect you for what you did.

“You could have run away, once the guy was killed. You probably would have gotten away. But you didn’t leave.”

“I couldn’t,” you whispered.

“Doesn’t matter why,” he whispered back. 

Your eyes filled with tears. “My employees died, I shouldn’t have gone….” 

“Your employees would have died anyway. Probably more of them- they really worried for you. They’re taken care of financially now so that you don’t need to worry.”

“Thank you,” you managed to get out.

“Geoff’s orders. Speaking of which… hold onto your blanket.”

“What?”

As you finished saying that, he scooped you up in his arms, blanket and all.

“We’re on the move.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do fear that there's too much useless chatter in this story, but that's the way it's going. I would so appreciate a comment or two.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are appreciated of course, but I appreciate the read anyway!


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